Changes From Beyond the Looking Glass
by Shadow Master
Summary: (BtVS/Mass Effect Universe/Stargate SG-1)You get to experience a lot when you're a member of a top secret organization. Things that are amazing beyond words and things that scare you to the soul. Get ready for the bar to be raised.


"Changes from Beyond the Looking Glass" by Shadow Master aka Ryley Breen

email: ryley[underscore]breen

(BtVS/Mass Effect Universe/Stargate SG-1)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. That means I don't own the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' television show, the 'Mass Effect universe' or the television show 'Stargate SG-1'. They belong to their respective creators and associated companies. I write fanfics only because there are those who enjoy reading my work and because it's fun to write fanfics. I am making no profit off of this whatsoever. Therefore I would appreciate it if the owners didn't send their lawyers after me with lawsuits. I can assure them that whatever they got from me won't cover even a tenth of the fees their lawyers dropped in their laps.

Note: Timeline specifications are as follows: In the BtVS side of things it's May 2008 and that puts it about five years after the events in the series finale. However I am steering clear of BtVS season 8 as far as the plot goes. Some characters and some facts might be used but other than that you can turn a blind eye to the events of Season 8 BtVS. As far as the Mass Effect Universe the Normandy will be the SR-2 at the very end of ME2 upgrades and all. As far as the crew they'd be the same. Anything else…I'll wait to surprise you. As far as Stargate SG-1 it'll be during Season 5 of the series.

Note 2: In this fic I'll be playing with some of the dates in the shows and the chronology of some events. Mostly I'm doing this because I don't want to break my back trying to make everything mesh and fit together just right. There are also some elements that I want that aren't available when I want them so I'll be tweaking things to suit my needs. If anyone reading this has a problem with that then I suggest you find another fic. I'll take suggestions and if they're good enough I'll use them but this is MY fanfic and I get final say on everything.

Note 3: I am NOT going to use any aspect of the so-called 'Indoctrination Theory' being supported by various fans of the trilogy. The reason for this is because I don't see the people behind the game making their hidden message that hard to pick up on. Plus I think that a lot of the points and 'proof' put forth is a lot of overanalyzing and picking apart the various insignificant loose ends that Bioware and EA thought too small to bother fixing. No videogame company is thorough to the point of ridiculousness with every aspect of their game so it's to be expected that there'd be a glitch or loose end here and there. Therefore I believe that the whole 'Indoctrination Theory' is nothing less than supporters overanalyzing the final game using inconsistencies, glitches and developer efficiency to prove their theory. It's just my opinion but I just thought I'd put this out there.

_Changes from Beyond the Looking Glass_

_**Scotland, Slayer Organization Castle, Early Evening**_

_**May 20**__**th**__**, 2009**_

_**Xander's POV**_

"Long time no see, Buff'!" he exclaimed as he hugged his longtime friend in the courtyard of the castle. "It's been what? Three years?"

"Two and a half. Close enough," Buffy said as she returning the hug. "How've you been?"

"Well, hiking your way through Africa most of the time and enjoying the occasional jeep as a luxury does wonders for getting you fit," he said as they separated and he looked down at his extremely fit body. "Still, it's nice to get back to civilization where I actually have a decent chance of getting a box of Twinkies."

"No worries on that front. When we got your RSVP for the party, I made sure the kitchen staff stocked up on Twinkies." She began to walk towards the main castle entrance, "Should be enough in the cupboards to keep you happy until you head back to Africa. I'm assuming you're heading back there after the anniversary party?"

"Yeah. We might've found just about every potential there but that doesn't mean I can leave them alone. Things might've improved politically over there but there are still wannabe warlords, little wars and places where words like 'justice' don't exist. I need another few years before some of the Slayers down there have enough experience to their names to handle things down there without me."

He was understating how things were down there but he didn't want Buffy or the others to needlessly worry about him. Things were rough and in order to even things up, he'd begun training the Slayers he found in firearms and explosives before giving them their own personal stash of the stuff. He didn't just teach them how to use the tools of a soldier, though; he also tried to teach them the proper morals of a solider, with a few of his own rules thrown in when appropriate. Some accepted his instructions with approval while others had their own codes that, while a bit extreme, weren't bad enough that he had to stop them.

Those that wouldn't accept his lessons and thought that they could do whatever they want with what they had and what he gave them… were dealt with.

Often permanently.

He shuddered a bit at the memory of one group of Slayers that had to be put down quick a little over three years ago and that memory was all the incentive he needed to go the extra mile with Slayers. Simone and her bunch were clear cut examples of the bad side of Willow's activation spell and, while they weren't numerous enough to justify worldwide correction, they were still problems. Giles had been the one to give the order to have the group removed and, by the time that the rest of the Organization found out what had been done, there wasn't much left to do but yell at each other. It wasn't pleasant, some believing that they should've tried harder to reach out to the 'troubled Slayers', while others had agreed with the order because they thought it'd have only made things worse for the rest of them if they wasted time trying to negotiate with the rogues. Surprisingly enough Buffy had been one of the ones against trying to reach out to Simone and her group of troublemakers. According to her they couldn't put the entire Organization at risk for so few people who'd already betrayed everything a Slayer was supposed to stand for.

Didn't mean that she didn't get drunk afterwards and vote for the motion to increase mental health measures for all branches in order to make sure there were no repeats in the future.

As they entered the castle proper, he laid eyes on one of the people who'd been outraged at the news that Simone and her allies had been taken out.

No wonder since, before the group went rogue, they were a part of the Rome branch of the Organization and Andrew was a ranking member of that branch. Wells had been madder than anyone had seen him in a long time and had gone as far as to compare them to the old Council and how they disposed of Slayers that caused them too much trouble. This, of course, had set Buffy and Giles off, causing things to get ugly before all parties stomped out of the room, avoiding each other for months before showing that they could still work together.

Looking at Andrew talking with a brunette Slayer, though, he could tell that the incident had changed the blonde but he'd be damned if he couldn't tell if it was for the better or not. Reports could only tell you so much but what he'd read showed a decisive increase in efficiency at the Rome branch, as well as signs of a drop in complaints from the locals about how the Slayers stationed there operated. A few of his own Slayers had taken a few trips there on official business and none of them reported anything off but one did report feeling peripheral… animosity in the Roman Slayers. It hadn't been anything obvious or even lightly covert but the Slayer was one of his more perceptive ones so he trusted her assessment.

As his eyes met Andrew's, he could tell his Slayer was right on the money.

Wells still harbored some animosity towards him but not enough from what he could see to make it impossible to work together.

"It'll be alright, Xander," Buffy said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He isn't going to be inviting you over for a sci-fi movie marathon after the party but as long as you don't bring up Simone, he's nice enough."

"I know. It's not like I don't understand where he was coming from back then but he wasn't looking at the big picture. If we'd let those Slayers run loose for too long, every government we had agreements with would've raised political hell. Might've made them put their crosshairs on us just in case."

"Hey, hey, don't need to convince me. I supported what you did," she said as they headed up the stairs, to Giles' office most likely. "Some people… some people have long memories."

"Yeah," was all he said in reply as he began to take in the castle itself to see if they'd made any changes since he was last here.

He remembered the first time he'd been there with the others and saw the ruins of the old Scottish castle. Andrew had immediately began drawing comparisons between it and Castle Wyvern from the old 'Gargoyles' cartoon but a few words from Faith quieted him up. He hadn't told the others but he'd been something of a fan of the show himself and could see what Wells was getting at. The location was similar, on a cliff jutting out into the sea, and, aside from some minor layout differences that he could see, could very well have been Disney's inspiration. The tactical part of his mind had liked it because it made it impossible for them to be surrounded by land forces and precious few enemies of theirs had a navy to complement their infantry. The walls were tall and thick, what few had still been standing at the time, making infantry weaponry useless against it and all but requiring something with a bit more BOOM to it. It'd taken quite a bit of time repairing everything and then add on all the little extras like an international army's HQ needed in order to be secure against both man and demon but they got it done.

"Any new features since the last time I was here?" he asked as they set foot on the second floor of the main building.

"Giles has people doing work at the base of the cliff. Says he wants to reinforce it all so we don't wind up getting dropped in the ocean. Willow thinks we should build some docks down there with an elevator that'll go up to the castle. Figures there'll be a few sea demons we'll have to deal with so building a place to put our boats is a must."

"Makes sense," he said, thinking about what the swim team had turned into back in high school. "What did Giles say?"

"He said he'd prioritize the reinforcement of the cliff first and then add on the docks later. We might not have the money problems we used to but we still have to prioritize the necessities over new stuff."

"Necessities like shoes? Clothes?" he asked with humor in his voice as he ribbed her a bit.

"Yep!" she replied with half seriousness and half humor. "After all I gotta look like I belong in whatever country I'm in and, if I gotta fit in, I might as well look good at the same time."

"Oh yeah! That's a must." His best Harmony impersonation was scarily accurate.

They both chuckled as he pushed open the door to reveal G-man's office and the man himself was sitting behind his desk talking to someone on the phone. The man's years were wearing on him and, while it didn't look like the Brit would be retiring any soon, it was a good thing he no longer did any field work for the Organization. He didn't doubt the man's mind or spirit but Giles' body was getting up there in years, making it increasingly dangerous just to just be out in the field, never mind fighting demons. Better for him to work behind the scenes handling administrative stuff and entertaining the few politicians that showed up. He was pretty sure that G-man agreed but some of the phone calls they'd had over the years made it clear that he'd go back to the field in an instant to get away from the bureaucrats.

"Yes… yes… I'm sure that Amara didn't intend to destroy that building…" Giles said to whomever was on the other end of the phone. "…yes… I'll make sure to send a message to all branch heads to have their Slayers be more careful with their activities. Goodbye, Prime Minister."

"Trouble with a head of state?" he asked with his mind putting together various scenarios based on what he'd heard.

"Xander, good to see you! Ah, yes, one of the Slayers in British Columbia was a bit careless when dispatching a pack of R'ozeg hounds. One of them apparently ignited a nearby gas main, destroying a four story building in the process." Giles put the phone down, "Needless to say the Prime Minister would prefer it if we kept our activities a tad more low profile."

"I can imagine. Not every town has the benefit of Sunnydale Syndrome and drawing too much attention to a covert war is never a good idea. So how are things here otherwise? Any change with that mess in Japan?"

"As well as could be expected given that we're still experiencing the after effects of awakening every potential Slayer on the planet," Giles replied as he got out of his chair, wincing slightly at the end. "As for the incident in Japan, I can happily say that it has finally been resolved. A team there finally got a break involving the clan of succubi that were causing trouble in Kyoto."

"Dead or run out of town?" he asked curious about the resolution of the problem.

"A few dead but, when it became clear that they would not prevail against the team, they fled. I've put an alert out to all neighboring branches to keep a sharp eye out for them. With luck they will return to their original hunting grounds in the wild and leave major population centers alone."

"You're not wiping them out?" Buffy asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"No. Despite their dietary requirements, succubi are not inherently evil. They do what they do out of necessity more than malicious desire," Giles replied as he removed his glasses from his pocket to clean them. "Besides which, this clan has strong ties to the largest succubi clan in the world. They have a militant faction that is often scouted by the Order of Teraka. I would prefer not to give them a reason to declare war on the Slayer Organization."

"Yep. Not a good idea to piss off warrior sex demons," he said, not liking the idea of fending off warrior succubi.

"You're just afraid they'll all go after you first." Buffy said with a smile of amusement.

"Hey! I'll have you know it's been a full year since the last femme fatale came onto me and SHE was HUMAN!" he exclaimed with mock indignation as a twitch of a smile showed up on his face.

"Well, at least that's something," Buffy said before the two of them broke down into laughter.

Giles, of course, merely coughed to cover up his own chuckles while placing his glasses back into his pocket. Even years after switching to contact lenses the man still kept his old glasses on hand and still cleaned them whenever he became flustered emotionally. Anyone who knew him knew that the Brit used the cleaning of them as a method of dealing with difficult situations but, with all the Organization had been through, the guy must've gone through at least fifty lenses in the last year alone.

After their good laugh they all sat down and discussed what each of them had been doing since they'd last seen each other in person. It was only a little over two hours later that their conversation turned to the festivities that'd be taking place later that night.

"So what's the theme for tonight's party, G-Man?" he asked, recalling how each year had been different than the one before it. "I didn't get a chance to check my mail before I hopped on the plane."

"It will be a costume party, apparently. When the time came to choose who would be organizing the matter, Posey from research volunteered to handle it." Giles began searching his desk for something, "Apparently she's chosen to make it follow a specific theme though I am unfamiliar with that theme. Now where did I… yes, here it is. What do you make of it?"

Taking a sheet of paper from the head of the Slayer Organization, he took a look at it and found out that the theme for the anniversary party tonight was the XBOX game 'Mass Effect'. An odd choice since usually when you put something like this together, you usually chose a theme that everyone liked and could enjoy. That's not to say that every person attending would hate it or refuse to come once they found out or anything like that but, depending on the nature and design of the costumes, Posey might receive some blowback in the weeks following. Nothing too severe, some pranks as well as some cold shoulders, but blowback just the same.

"It's a sci-fi game for the XBOX. Fairly popular," he replied, handing the paper back. "Played it a bit with some of the Slayers during down time."

"Please tell me it isn't jogging suits and space bimbos!" Buffy exclaimed, clearly fearing the game would be too much like Star Trek.

"Nope… well, not for the main characters anyways. Some of the extras and NPCs are pole dancers in skin tight latex but, depending on what outfit you get, I don't think you'll have to worry about it. Basically the more background work a character had, the more respectable their outfit was and the important what they did was."

"Then here's hoping I get at least a co-star costume or else someone's gonna pay," Buffy said, sounding serious enough that he really hoped that Posey took consequences into account with her costume list.

"Well, I think I'm going to go unpack and unwind. See you guys later at the party."

Leaving, he wondered what costume Posey had decided to assign to him. He wouldn't mind if he just got one of the less important characters but he'd prefer one that wouldn't require him to put on make-up or face paint. He was a little old to be playing dress up like it was Halloween and past experiences with Halloweens didn't leave him looking forward to the holiday as much as he did pre-Buffy.

_At least it's spring instead of fall, _he thought as he walked down the hallway to the room he slept in any time he was in the castle. _With a little luck it'll be enough to keep the demony and witchy from having fun at our expense._

_**Meeting Room Three, Posey's POV**_

Nobody understood Andrew Wells.

Not like she did.

When others looked at him they saw the nerd, the man who couldn't fight worth a damn, someone who could only be useful in the R&D department or some other place far from the battlefield. They made jokes about him with some not caring if he heard them while others did so only when he wasn't in the room with him so they could be confronted. Everyone looked up to the others like Buffy, Faith and even Xander but they barely remembered that Andrew had lived in the Sunnydale just as long as Harris and Rosenberg had. Sure he hadn't done anything as memorable as the original Scooby gang but he'd told her that he'd always known that something odd was going on in his town unlike the rest of the populace. While he hadn't come right out and told her, she was sure that he'd helped where and when he could behind the scenes without Buffy or her friends knowing about it. While most people loved the sort of heroes that walked onto the battlefield, gun in hand, kicking ass and taking names while marching ever closer to victory, she was different. She preferred those who operated off the battlefield and made victory possible for the big time heroes. Too few realized that you can be the most badass warrior around but if your equipment is shoddy or your enemy intel is worth less than shit, then you'll almost certainly die.

That was why she admired Andrew because, when it came to research and making sense of enemy intel, he was never wrong. Numerous missions would not have succeeded if he hadn't been the one in charge and she knew it. She had numerous pieces of evidence to support this in the form of other teams in similar situations where things had been organized by other people to support her position. He might not be a hero of the body but, in her mind, he was a hero of the mind and he deserved to be recognized as such.

But he wasn't no matter how many successful missions could be attributed to him.

That would change though.

She'd make it change.

She even had a plan to enact that change that she got from one of the Old Council's mission reports. According to the report there was an incident in Sunnydale during Buffy's second year there on Halloween where a chaos mage came to town and cast a spell. The spell turned all those who'd purchased a costume or a piece of a costume from a specific store to become what they'd be dressed up as for the night. Not only did they take on the mind of the costume but also the physical characteristics, whether it was complete intangibility or a toy gun becoming a real one. The spell was ended when Watcher Rupert Giles shattered the bust that was the focal point of the entire spell but that did not undercut the benefits of the spell.

All it would need would be a little tweaking and she would be able to make Andrew a hero both in mind and body.

It'd taken forever to figure out a way to trick someone skilled enough in the mage division to figure out a way to make the changes permanent while leaving the original owner in control. She'd proposed a hypothetical scenario where a group of evil mages tried to use the spell to give themselves fictional powers and keep them after the spell ended. She'd asked the mage to tell her what to look out for in terms of symbols, artifacts and incantations. Fortunately she hadn't needed to figure out a way to make the mage go into detail with what he'd figured out since he was one of the types that loved to talk and was positively anal about the details. She'd known this beforehand and had made sure to covertly take pictures of everything while using a tape recorder to catch everything he'd said to her. Every single day since then she'd gone over the details until she could repeat them in her sleep so she knew that she wouldn't slip up on that side of things.

The problem had been to find the right time of the year to do it since Halloween was not an option. Even years after the night in question, the senior members of the organization were wary around that night and would've picked up on what she'd planned in an instant. Fortunately Janus was the god of beginnings and endings, so choosing to perform the spell during the time of transition between spring and summer would work for her.

Not as well as All Hollows Eve but she'd take what she could get.

The next part was to figure out a way to hide the truth in plain sight but thankfully the yearly anniversary party for the destruction of Sunnydale was just perfect for her. Each year the theme of the party was different so all she'd had to do was make sure that she was chosen to run the party and then to make the theme a costume party. She'd spent some time examining several possible works of fiction to find just the right one that'd allow Andrew's mind to be supplemented by a strong body. She couldn't turn him into Superman or someone else just as powerful since that would require a more powerful caster. Right now she was counting on her slice of the Slayer essence to power the spell and she'd be lucky if she didn't pass out before everything was all said and done. Therefore she'd stuck to the more human fictional characters but make sure they were the best at what they did and had abilities that would make Andrew stand out amongst the other senior members of the Organization.

That's when she'd come upon the game 'Mass Effect' and realized she'd found the source material she needed in order to achieve her objective. The hero of the game was human but he was in absolute peak human condition while also possessing a power referred to as biotics in the game. From what she could tell biotics were like the mental powers of telekinesis, pyrokinesis and cryokinesis. Since those abilities already existed in this dimension, it wouldn't require a lot of power to give them to Andrew and, when added to the elite military tactics and know how he'd acquire, it'd be perfect. In no time at all he'd be one of the most respected members of the Organization.

With the theme of the party chosen she'd gone about gathering the decorations as well as the food but it'd taken more work to get the costumes. While only Andrew's would be enchanted, she needed enough to cover everyone in attendance and they needed to be of the same quality so that the target of the spell wouldn't be singled out. She'd looked everywhere she could for a quality costume provider who'd proven in the past that they could produce normal outfits and armor with equal skill. It'd taken up until three months ago to find the one that met her standards but after that it'd been simply a matter of placing an order and specifying what she wanted.

From there she'd begun the process of choosing who'd get what costume so she could send their measurements to the costume manufacturers so that they'd fit perfectly. THAT had taken some doing, especially if she wanted to avoid making things too embarrassing for both her and the person she talked to. Eventually she'd managed to get all the numbers she'd needed and had immediately placed an order so that everything would be ready by today. The costumes were due to arrive shortly and would be taken up to the people they'd been assigned to immediately thereafter so they'd have everything on in time for the party.

She chuckled a bit as she recalled the costume choices she assigned to the senior members of the organization. Some, like Giles' outfit, would be perfectly okay and be a sign of her respect or perhaps even admiration for the person while the others, like Xander's, would be a bit of revenge on her part.

She did transfer from the Rome branch to the Scotland branch two years ago, after all.

After the Organization heads had completely ignored Andrew's pleas to give him time to persuade Simone and her group to return to the fold by assassinating them behind the Rome branch's back, she'd decided to make sure it never happened again. She'd put in a request for a transfer a month later and, once she'd arrived in Scotland, she'd done all she could to put herself as close to the information center of the castle as possible. That way she could monitor the information and, if anything like what happened to Simone's group happened again to the Rome branch, she'd be able to give Andrew some advance warning or even delay the action a bit. Nothing had popped up so far but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun at Harris' expense and, if it made the pirate the laughing stock of the party, then so much the better.

Andrew, of course, would get the Commander Shepard costume with a handful of weapons props that would expand just like the ones in the game. They were even made out of metal rather than plastic but there were no electronics inside to produce sound effects or flashing lights, though. The most the manufacturer had been able to do was to rig it so that the thermal clip could be inserted and would pop out if the user mimicked what the game characters did with that weapon to make it do the same. She'd considered asking the mage division to make up some bracelets that would project the image of the omni-tool but decided that that would be taking things too far.

It was only a party after all.

A knock at the door drew her attention. "Yes?" she asked without looking up from the last few bits of preparation paperwork she'd been doing.

"The costumes you ordered have arrived, Posey. Where do you want to put them?" came the voice of Leah through the door.

"They should have the names of the people they're supposed to go to on the boxes. Just grab a couple of new recruits and drop them off in front of the right doors." She said only briefly looked up from the door, "Leave the one for Andrew here with me, though. I want to make sure that they got it right since there was a bit of interference over the phone when we got to that part of the order."

"Okay," Leah said before all was silence once more.

That hadn't been a lie. She really had experienced some trouble placing the order and it had been due to a bad connection but it hadn't been due to anything audio but rather she'd had trouble faxing certain info to them. When the number of detailed characters had dried up, she'd been forced to dig a bit for the info she needed in order to fill in the gaps. That had been when she'd called in some favors she'd been owed by a pair of hacker pals she'd made in the Rome branches I.T. department and had them do some digging into both Bioware and EA. After the success 'Mass Effect' had experienced in the videogame scene, she knew it was only a matter of time before a sequel was put into production. Sometimes companies began work on the sequel before the first one had been publically released because they'd meant the game idea to be a two or three parter from the beginning. In any case, she'd asked her hacker pals to look for any new characters that'd be introduced in the sequel and to focus on the ones that already had pictures and a back story attached to them. It'd taken some time but they'd managed to do it without getting caught and sent her the necessary number of characters to use in her plans. Naturally she'd had to fax the concept pictures that had been taken directly from the Bioware and EA computers to the costume makers so that they had something to work with. It'd taken five tries with the fax machine but eventually the company got clear copies of both and since she'd heard nothing troublesome from them, she could only presume everything had worked out fine.

_Just like everything will work fine with Andrew once he gets his upgrade,_ she thought as she heard the sound of several boxes being put down outside the room she was in.

_**The Hallway Leading to the Banquet Hall, Willow's POV**_

_Good thing this is easier to see through than it looked. _She thought as she walked to the banquet hall, _Otherwise I'd be bumping into things all over the place._

It had been an odd sight when she'd opened the boxes that'd been delivered to her room and saw the costume that Posey had picked out for her. Normally she and the others would've picked what they wanted but Posey had been so enthusiastic about being in charge of the party that everyone had decided to let the younger Slayer have her way. It wasn't that the costume she'd gotten was ugly or anything because, after she'd taken everything out, she actually found the costume to be quite pretty. Black two toed boots, straps that were either black or gold and the rest being black leather or a purple cloth with white swirly patterns drawn on it. However the part she'd had some difficulty with had been the helmet and that'd been because of the curved purple glass that made up over half of it. It'd been such a deep purple she'd been worried that she'd have difficulty seeing out of it but, after she'd opened it up to put it on, she'd learned that only one side of the glass was purple. The other was perfectly clear and easy to see through, so walking around with it on wouldn't be a problem.

Another element of her costume that she'd been fascinated with had been the large pistol and shotgun that had come with her costume. Apparently they had two states: one where they were as compact as possible and another where they unfolded in order to be used. It reminded her of collapsible mini-crossbow from that show 'Relic Hunter' but for firearms. While obviously not working models they made her wonder about trying something similar with the tools that various Slayers used. It would certainly make transporting them easier and it would make it harder for the people in customs to positively ID them since you'd have to unfold the weapon to see its natural shape. She supposed the reason why it hadn't been done before all that well was because making a sword or an axe that folded up weakened them structurally. If she applied a fusing charm to the parts the bent or folded, made it so that they became as one once fully unfolded that, it could fix the issue.

"Hey Willow." Spoke a voice from ahead of her that she hadn't heard from in over a year.

Looking up, she saw her first boyfriend Oz standing not twenty feet from her wearing a costume of his own. It had been a little over a year since the Organization helped the werewolf found a school for others of his kind where they could learn the techniques he did to tame the wolf inside. It'd been difficult setting up the protective wards to keep werewolf hunters out, as well as any others that might threaten the purpose of the school or the residents. She still remembered how complex the rune configurations had been in order to meet all the necessary conditions and criteria but it'd been worth it according to the phone calls they had since then. No less than eight attempts at illegal entry had been made since but all of them had been stopped the moment the intruder or intruders had taken a single step onto the school's property.

"Oz! When did you get in?!" she asked as she ran to him and hugged him. "Your plane wasn't supposed to land until tomorrow!"

"Traded tickets with someone," Oz said, returning the hug for a bit before they parted. "Nice costume."

"You too," she said, looking at the costume he was wearing.

It looked to be a uniform of some sort but there didn't appear to be any real personalization to make her think that it was one of the main characters of the game the party was centered on. Black combat boots and knee pads started things out, followed by cargo pants that looked a little padded and a short sleeved shirt to top it all off. It was a mix of black, white and gray as far as color scheme went, with some sort of gold symbol on each shoulder that she couldn't identify. He also had a black and white baseball cap on his head with 'SR-2' on it but that struck her as odd since, according to her skim of the 'Mass Effect' website, it should say 'SR-1'.

As with most things in her life she researched the game as soon as she found out what the theme of the party would be so she'd have an idea of who her character was. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya of the Quarian Flotilla was her character and, unless she was very much mistaken (very unlikely in her opinion), Oz had dressed up as Jeff 'Joker' Moreau the pilot of the Normandy spaceship. She hadn't watched any of the clips from the game but apparently the character Oz was dressed up as was an ace pilot and believed himself to be the best pilot in the entire Earth Alliance fleet. Joker wasn't the star of the show but still had a respectable role in the story of the game.

"Everything okay back at the school?" she asked as they both began walking towards the banquet hall.

"Yep. Left Nina in charge." Oz replied without concern in his voice.

Nina was a woman who'd been changed into a werewolf on purpose by a group in L.A who apparently ate a variety of nonhuman species like most people would eat a Thanksgiving Day turkey. She'd wound up being rescued by Angel and his team at the last moment when the group succeeded in capturing her for their evening meal. The woman had spent some time with the fang gang, taking the same steps as Oz to make sure she didn't kill anyone when she changed. However when Oz founded his school she moved there and helped work with him to help others adjust to the change from a human to a werewolf. Next to Oz, Nina was the most senior person at the school so it was in good hands with her.

"Everything cool?" he asked her as the doors to the banquet hall came into view.

"Well, we've already dealt with the yearly apocalypse in six different spots around the world so we'll be riding the summer mellow for a while," she replied as they continued to walk side by side. "We still have the people in the intelligence division keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious but so far nothing's come up that needs more than what a local team has."

"Good," he said as he reached out for the door to the banquet hall and pushed it open.

"We've told every branch that they can take some time off to party if they want but only after they've done at least one patrol of the hotspots in their area," she explained as they entered the room, finding the party already in full swing.

"Smart."

Looking about to see if there were any costumes that caught her eye, she saw that most of them looked to be repeats, making her think that perhaps they were nameless background characters. Some were dressed like Oz, making her think that they might be crew members from the Normandy, while others were dressed up as aliens from the various 'Mass Effect' races. There was nothing distinctive about their costumes, making her believe it was more NPCs but as she looked to the left she spotted Buffy and the others to find that they'd lucked out with unique costumes. Without thinking on it for more than a second, she changed course towards where they were gathered and began to examine their costumes.

Buffy's was first and she had to wonder how the senior Slayer felt wearing it with so many people around to see it. Starting from the top was a dominantly red hood with bits of black in just the right places that covered most of her head, leaving only shaded eyes and everything below the mid-point of the dorsum being in plain sight. Going on down, it looked like she was wearing a black bodysuit with red and grey trim placed in stylish areas, as well as a belt with the same color scheme resting at an angle around her waist. The part that might have Buffy feeling a bit awkward was the thigh high red boots, with the outer sole being black in order to stay in keeping with the color scheme of the rest of the outfit.

"Looking pretty sharp, Buffy," she said, complimenting her friend in an effort to put the blonde at ease.

"I guess. I'm just glad that this hood makes it hard for people to see the purple eye shadow I had to put on," Buffy said, reluctantly giving her approval to the outfit. "And what's with this strip of purple on my lower lip?! I look like Queen Amidala!"

"I think it's something to do with Asian nobility make up or something."

Buffy just shrugged at the answer but then seemed to let the lingering feelings of uneasiness go so that she could enjoy the party rather than endure it.

"Well, at least you didn't have to put on this weird skull cap and all this blue body paint," Dawn said, sounding displeased at the difficulty of getting that part of her costume on.

The outfit that the youngest Summers wore looked like a ladies business suit made out of Kevlar and designed by a Japanese manga artists who specialized in sci-fi stories. Blue and white were the primary colors with bits of black as well as grey thrown in to add some variety, making her think it was all to compliment the aqua blue body paint on Dawn's face. There were some white pieces of armor in place but the Kevlar was definitely dominant making her think that parts were meant to highlight shape while the others were mean to draw attention to toned muscles. At least that was her opinion.

"Good thing I didn't have to go through any of that crap," Faith said before taking a sip of her drink. "Just needed to style my hair a bit and put on this wicked looking cat suit. A bit tighter than I'd like but it ain't like I'm all that modest."

She had to shake her head at that.

Even though a little over ten years had passed since the second oldest Slayer had come to Sunnydale with her tough and sexy attitude, she still acted like she was the ultimate sex symbol. Nevertheless, the outfit she was wearing definitely clung to her curved figure but was actually a little conservative when you considered how risqué some Halloween costumes could go. White pants and top with a hexagon pattern embedded into the fabric of both with the same symbol as what was on Oz's outfit on Faith's left breast. There were also knee high black boots and the sleeves of the outfit were black pieces that even covered the hands leaving only white fingers and thumbs at the end. There was a bit of exposed skin up top but from what she could see it was no bigger than a glass Coca-Cola bottle and the brunette Slayer couldn't make it any bigger without showing a bit more than she'd like to.

"At least Giles' outfit wasn't too crazy," Buffy said, looking towards the head of the Slayer Organization.

Indeed, the surrogate father figure looked the admiral of some unknown military wearing an obviously formal military uniform that was dominantly dark blue but with gold strips along the seams. He also wore a hat that sported an odd symbol that looked like an arch with three stars under it arranged in a triangle-like shape but the funniest part of the outfit was the fake goatee that Giles had on. They could all tell that it was bothering the former librarian like crazy and was probably reminiscent of wearing an itchy sweater except in goatee form and only around the mouth.

"Yes. Quite a relief to discover that I wouldn't have to wear something humiliating," Giles said, unconsciously straightening the uniform a bit. "Truth be told I find it rather nice to dress as an admiral for the night. Always did want to join the RAF but then the family calling became a rather dominant priority."

"Never really considered the military myself," Robin said from his place next to Faith. "Needed a job that would let me move around when I needed to. Kinda nice though that some of us match, though."

Indeed Robin's outfit looked like it came from the same shop as Faith's and Oz's with the same color scheme and the same odd symbol in the same place. However, looking at it, she could tell instead of looking like something you'd wear to a meeting of important people, the former principal looked like a soldier in his outfit. Bits of armor in all the right places as well as a belt that looked decidedly sturdier than anything you'd wear to a fancy dinner party or even an office meeting.

"Anyone seen Xander yet?" Dawn asked before casting her gaze about the gathered members of the Council. "I want to see what his costume looks like."

_Yeah, like we don't know what you're really after, _she thought as the others had similar looks in their eyes.

For the past 13 years Dawn Marie Summers had set her eyes on Xander with the intention of marrying him one day and hadn't strayed even once. Oh, she might've dated other guys from time to time but everyone knew that was just until she was of legal age so that the object of her affections wouldn't be able to use that against her when she began putting the moves on him. Buffy wasn't entirely in favor of the idea but the rest of them knew that was more a case of the senior slayer's big sister feelings rather than anything being wrong with Xander. Buffy was one of those people that, once she put a person in a specific category, she preferred that they stayed there until she said otherwise. Still, the fact that Buffy wasn't entirely against the idea was a good sign that she was doing her best to not interfere with her sister's right to choose.

"There he is," Faith said, spotting someone entering the room. "Hey boytoy! Over here!"

This served a dual purpose of letting Xander know where they were and setting off a wave of chuckles as each person had a different idea of what the nickname 'boytoy' implied about the senior member of the Organization. Those who knew both Xander and Faith well knew that there was nothing too indecent behind the selection of the nickname but she saw no harm in letting imaginations run free a bit.

Looking at her best friend, it didn't take her more than a second to examine his costume and she had to admit it looked good on him. Black armor with a red and white stripe down the right side and the designation 'N7' placed on the outfit just to the right of the center of his chest. He had what looked to be the armor's helmet under one arm as well as what looked to be the tops and bottoms of weapons sticking up over his shoulder. He looked every bit like a futuristic soldier and his eye patch actually sold the illusion of him being an experienced war hero better than if he'd put in his glass eye.

"Lookin' pretty badass there, Xan," Faith said once the final member of their core group arrived next to them. "I'm thinking maybe we should make it your official organization uniform for field work."

"Maybe I will," Xander said with mock seriousness. "It'd definitely be better than a jeans and T-shirt."

No one took it seriously since they all knew that in Africa the black armor would be unbearable to wear during the day and, while better at night temperature-wise, wouldn't protect him much against the things he hunted. The metal the costume was made out of was probably nowhere near as tough as real armor and, even if it was, most of the demons in that region that they knew about could pierce armor without much difficulty.

Letting the thought slide from her head, she turned to the food table as she was feeling a little hungry and wondered if the cooks made anything interesting.

_**A Hidden Chamber Beneath the Castle, An Hour Later, Posey's POV**_

_It's just about time to get things started,_ she thought as she locked the chamber behind her. _Better check to make sure I have everything because I doubt I'll get more than one try at it._

Setting the bag she'd been carrying down on the ground she began to empty it one item at a time while mentally going over the specifics of the spell as it'd been explained to her. She'd already gone over it easily a hundred times since the mage she'd consulted first told her everything about it but, since she was essentially a novice at casting spells, she was determined not to make a mistake. The Organization had several times encountered what happened when an amateur sorcerer or an arrogant warlock made a mistake when casting a spell. Either they overestimated their own reserves of magic or got sloppy with preparations for the spell, resulting usually in their deaths with the only variation being an immediate death or a lingering death. Since she wanted to live a long and healthy life, she was going to make sure that every last piece of what she was about to do was done perfectly.

The ingredients for the spell were identical to the Janus spell that the records said Ethan Rayne would have had to have used, however there were some additions she was making but that was unavoidable since the Janus spell was temporary and she wanted Andrew's changes to be more permanent. One was a vial of what appeared to be sand but was actually the ground remains of one of Jupiter's statues that resided in the oldest of the Roman god's temples. This would provide a little extra power to the spell, allowing Janus to effect more permanent changes than he could with just his own power. It would also compensate for the fact that the spell wasn't being cast on Halloween when the barriers between realms were weakest. The next item was a single fragment of metal that the Organization's supplier assured her had once been part of a creation forged by the god Vulcan. This would aid in turning Andrew's armor and weapons into the real deal rather than just some impressive looking props, allowing him to make up for the lack of Slayer powers or magic. A piece of a scroll said to have been touched by the god Mars was the next item she'd acquired with the intent of giving the focus of the spell the knowledge and the body of a true warrior. Lastly she had a thread taken from the robes of a head priestess at one of the smaller temples dedicated to the goddess Victoria to tilt the odds of Andrew emerging victorious even more in his favor.

She'd done the best she could in order to make sure that all of the gods and goddesses involved were of the same pantheon since she didn't want to risk a conflict between Greek and Roman deities. Too few people realized that the Roman gods and goddesses were not the Greek pantheon in disguise or with different names, but rather they were two completely different entities. The consequences of mistaking one for the other during spell casting according to the mage she'd consulted was usually nasty and potentially permanent. It ranged from simply being locked in a state of moderate pain for a week or so to being afflicted with a horrible ailment for the rest of the person's life.

Definitely not something she wanted to be on the receiving end of if she could avoid it.

After she'd confirmed all of the ingredients, she took out the tools needed to create the arcane circle on the floor of the chamber. The purpose of an arcane circle was to help the spell caster to channel the energies s/he was calling upon into the patterns required for a specific spell, or at least a specific end result. Only those who'd sacrificed something important to a demon lord could cast complex spells without the presence of an arcane circle or something similar that could aid them in controlling the forces they sought to use. Taking the container of specially prepared ink, she began to draw the circle, being careful with every stroke of the brush in order to ensure that everything was perfect.

It just wouldn't do for her to be smited because of sloppy brushwork or something like that.

Once the circle and all the necessary symbols were drawn she placed each of the gathered ingredients in their proper places, either in their containers or sprinkled in the right spots. Then came the preparations for herself and that meant dressing in clothes appropriate for someone calling upon a Roman god to lend his power to the spell, which was a toga of white and red that left only her head and arms bare as well as no shoes.

_Well this is it. What I've been preparing for,_ she thought as she stepped into the arcane circle with a bust of Janus in her arms. _Just take a deep breath, relax and follow every instruction to the letter._

Getting down onto both needs she recalled the words of the spell and after finding her center began to chant.

"Janus, I invoke your spirit. Hear my plea. Seize this night for your own. Come, appear and show all your infinite power," she chanted in front of the stone bust of Janus. "The garments become real, mind and body doth change, in your presence that which is false becomes true. Janus! Let your power bring about change unending! Take this night for your own!"

Like someone was literally yanking the life from her, she felt an incredible force yank on the Slayer essence within her even as other energies were guided into the pattern desired for the spell. It wasn't so much that she was in pain or anything but rather she felt as though she was on the verge of drowning due to the forces at work. Strength was absent within her body and trying to breath was like trying to do fifty repetitions in the weight room with her current weight limit on the bar. With every second that passed she became less and less confident that she'd be able to last another second, yet somehow she managed to anyway.

She knew not how long she remained conscious but, when her body finally reached its limits, consciousness fled her and the last thing she saw was green light rising up all around her, hiding the rest of the chamber from her sight.

On two different planes of existence two different beings bore witness to the young Slayer's efforts but they both added a little something to the mixture of energies that would have far reaching effects.

The first was the embodiment of beginnings and endings, of division of self, and the being for whom the spell being cast was originally intended. He had been alerted by a faithful worshipper of the Slayer's actions and it had amused him greatly that an agent for the so-called 'Powers-That-Be' would act to instill chaos rather than order. He had observed her as she went about gathering the necessary tools needed to perform the spell and, when she had selected the theme the costumes would be centered on, both of his faces had grinned. If he did lend his power in the way that the young woman desired then the plans of the lords and ladies of order would indeed be heavily damaged. Normally he would have been rather disappointed to find that only one costume had been properly enchanted but in this case he was not worried. There were others present at the party who had been affected by this very spell previously and, thanks to the changes the young Slayer had made, he could extend his power's reach to those close to them without much difficulty. The rest of his kin had already given their consent and contributed what they could to the spell without attracting unwanted attention so the changes those affected would undergo would indeed be great. Memories would be imprinted, bodies would be altered and weapons would be made as real as a sharp blade at your throat.

All in all, quite a bit of chaos would be created from what he was about to make happen.

The other was not a god per se but he did exist on a higher plane of existence. He had once been mortal, very much like the people of Earth before he and his fellow people learned how to ascend and achieve a form of non-corporeal existence. The others considered their current state to be enlightened and far superior to what they'd been before as mere mortals. He, on the other hand, considered it boring but wouldn't have minded so much if he could still interact freely with those still bound by organic shells. However virtually all of his brethren, with the exception of Oma Desala, forbade him from interfering in the affairs of the mortal races. He'd made a few attempts in the past millennia or so to sneak past them but those attempts all failed, so now they had him under close observation. Basically it was the human equivalent of posting guards outside his room and watching him through a surveillance camera albeit vastly more advanced. He could still go about what his fellow ascended beings considered a normal day but anything that even hinted he was attempting to influence the mortal realms was stopped in an instant. Truthfully he was about ready to tear his metaphorical hair out in boredom but now, with what he saw the young woman doing, he perceived a chance at entertainment and he was going to take it. He knew that there'd be some dimensional distortions in the next few minutes and it would be then that he would strike when his kin's grip on his leash was loosened.

Both beings, both mysteriously going by the name Janus, smiled at what was to come and with one voice spoke a single word that epitomized their thoughts at the moment.

"Showtime."

_**Earth, Scotland, HQ of the Slayer Organization**_

It moved with the speed of a massive shockwave, sweeping through the castle before the minds of those within could do more than sense something odd in the air. For some disorientation was the most they felt as their natural minds were tossed into their brain's metaphorical back seat in order to allow a new mind to take control.

For others, though, the effects were decidedly more dramatic and painful to varying degrees.

For Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, Robin Wood and Daniel 'Oz' Osborne the changes to their bodies were relatively minor but, without the presence of painkillers, still hurt like a sunuvabitch. Bodies were altered to better match the beings who they were dressed up as and that meant the regeneration of an eye in a matter of seconds, as well as modifications beneath the skin to accommodate certain abilities. Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane and Andrew Wells on the other hand underwent changes of a more… life altering nature. Measurements changed, the color of their skin became somewhat different as well as in composition of the skin and it wouldn't be inaccurate at all to say that for some they ceased to be even remotely human.

However it was when the spell began its work on Dawn Summers, the Key made flesh, that things took a turn that only a few could have seen coming.

Only a few in the higher realms and even less in the lower dimensions knew of the change that the mystical energy known as 'the Key' had undergone years ago. They knew that it had been changed by the Monks of Dagon from a concentration of dimensional energy into a fourteen year old human female, the little sister of the Slayer Buffy Summers, in order to hide it from the hell goddess known as Glorificus. The warrior of Sunnydale fought bravely to protect her little sister but the demoness that preferred the name Glory succeeded in capturing her prey. Despite the best efforts of Buffy and her allies, they were unable to prevent the blood from flowing from Dawn's body, causing ruptures in the walls between dimensions to manifest and grow. It took Buffy throwing herself into the maelstrom of dimensional energies and dying to seal the ruptures, saving the all realities in the process. She got better, eventually, once the promising wicca Willow Rosenberg cast a spell of resurrection bringing her back to life but as for Dawn, most believed that their Key problems were over with. They believed that whatever energies might have been contained within the flesh and blood body of the young woman were no longer there and therefore no longer an issue.

They were wrong.

Just because the optimum time for using them had come and gone didn't mean that they were not lying dormant within the shell that had been crafted by the monks to hide it. Under almost all circumstances save a few it would be beyond the reach of forces both intelligent and primal to use it in any useful manner. However, as any practitioner of the arcane arts would tell you, it is never a good idea to mix two distinctly different magical energies and it only got worse the more diametrically opposite the two were. This could not be more so than in this particular case when a well of energy constrained by forces of order to maintain a specific form had powerful forces of chaos thrust upon it like a tsunami. Thus, due to the efforts of the Roman god Janus and his ascended counterpart, the collision between their powers and the energies of the Key unleashed a shockwave rippled outwards away from the castle. No longer was it confined to those clad in the garb of fictional characters but neither was it given specific purpose, so therefore its effects on the rest of the world were for the most part random and inconsequential.

A man in the Saudi Arabia might suddenly remember where a tomb filled with treasure is located.

A woman in China might be saved from an untimely car crash instead of perishing as she otherwise would have had the wave of energy not hit her.

A young man in Canada might catch the eye of a beautiful woman who might not have noticed him had her attention not been directed towards him.

However most does not mean all and it is one effect of the wave of energy that would have repercussions beyond what could be measured in a moment.

_**Colorado Springs, Colorado**_

_**Cheyenne Mountain Complex, One Thousand Meters Below Ground Level**_

_**SGC, Stargate Operations Room, Major Samantha Carter's POV**_

"How's it coming Walter?" she asked as she continued her work installing the new encryption subroutines into the dialing computer's primary systems.

"Almost done with the secondary systems, Major," Walter replied as he worked from his own computer, doing the same thing she was doing albeit to different systems.

It had been only a week since Teal'c had successfully returned to normal and rid himself of Apophis' brainwashing but that still left them with a bit of work to do. There was no way of knowing how much classified SGC information the former First Prime of Apophis had passed on to his former master that might have then made it off the mother ship prior to its destruction. As a result she'd been ordered by General Hammond to oversee all password and encryption alterations on the base, starting with the dialing computer.

The last thing they needed was for a system lord to somehow override the iris and start sending Jaffa through the stargate.

Typing away, she hoped that nothing happened before they finished or not only could there be programming issues with the dialing computer but they'd also have to reinstall the encryption software all over again. Considering how many other things she had on her plate, that was not something she wanted to see happen so she did what she could to speed up her work.

It wasn't fast enough.

Without warning a wave of emerald energy washed over her and, while it left her as well as the dialing computer alone, the same could not be said for the stargate itself. As soon as the wave hit it, crackling bolts of energy danced frantically over its surface like the world's biggest bug zapper and, much to her surprise, the inner ring of the device began to spin.

It began to spin FAST and was only accelerating as time passed.

At first she thought it was a simple overloading of the system but, when the computer in front of her suddenly began to spit sparks, she knew it was more than that. This was proven to be the case all the more so when the screen began to run through the dialing procedure and successfully encoded the first chevron. Without even needing to say anything she knew that Walter was working on his computer to try and restore order, as well as abort the dialing procedure. They'd worked together for so long they no longer needed to tell the other what they'd be doing and what the other would need to do. With the absence of words their efforts went much quicker but they were not rewarded for their efforts as the dialing process continued uninterrupted. Her scientific mind raced to figure out what was happening so that she could at least come up with the basis of a solution but the phenomena was unlike anything she'd previously encountered. If she had more time, if she had access to proper equipment, she could gather information necessary for a solution but it was clear that she would be given the time or the equipment.

"Chevron seven encoded and locked!" Walter announced just before the event horizon of the artificial wormhole gushed forth from the stargate before settling into a circle of blue energy.

At that moment two things happened that only added to the bizarreness of the situation.

First the spinning of the inner ring seemed to intensify and increase the energy that was crackling around it until it was almost impossible to see the gray Naquadah parts of the superconductor. Then, with all the speed of a striking serpent, the emerald energy leapt into the event horizon, disappearing from sight as the wormhole collapsed behind it. This was not the only aftereffect of the disappearance of the energy, though. Seconds later the dialing computer that had been taken over by the unknown phenomena sparked violently once more then died.

"Carter! What the hell is going on here?!" Colonel O'Neill exclaimed as he entered the operations room. "Half the fuses in this place have been melted and Siler is throwing a fit because of all the work that just got dumped in his lap."

Looking about the room and down to the stargate that had steam rising from it in a way that did not indicate an easy fix, she could only say one thing.

"I don't know, sir."

Unfortunately for the galaxy there was one being who did know what was going on because he was very much responsible for at least half of it. The ascended Lantean had watched as his other dimensional counterpart had poured the great and chaotic energy across the planet Earth but when it reached the Astria Porta beneath the mountain, that was when he intervened. With the dimensional ether still in flux due to the involvement of 'The Key', his kin had no means to restrain him at the moment, though that could change at any moment. Deciding to make sure that he had his way before they could stop him, he immediately began to influence the 'stargate' so that it dialed a very specific planet. This world had gained many names over the years since he and his kin first set foot on it ages ago but the people who dwelt there now called it one thing alone.

Dakara.

It was there that one of his people's greatest creations was made for the purpose of reseeding the galaxy with life once the plague had finished running its course. However, to create, one must first destroy so to use it the normal way, the way it was designed to be used, could indeed obliterate all organic life in the galaxy but fortunately he had other plans.

As soon as the energy arrived on Dakara, he immediately directed it to the weapon and began to bring it all online. It caused such a commotion among the local Jaffa and their so-called masters that he couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw as it amused him. However he soon focused his mind as the activation process of the device soon reached the point where it would begin to draw great amounts of power for the massive discharge to come. When the moment arrived he substituted the energy that would normally be used for that which he had brought to Dakara and watched as the final stage of his master plan took effect.

With all the speed of an unstoppable force, a field of emerald energy was sent forth from the device crawling over the planet itself and, as part of the process, also being sent through the stargate itself to another world. This process repeated itself on numerous worlds over and over again at such a speed that, by the time he felt his kin's hooks sinking into him again, it was already too late to undo what he'd done.

The effects of the energy created by the merger of his energy, the energy belonging to his other dimensional counterpart and the Key's energy had just finished covering everything within range.

Everything within the Milky Way had been touched by this energy until, with one final pulse caused by it hitting so many places at once, it flowed out of the galaxy like a giant ripple that vanished into the darkness between galaxies.

Things had changed and it would be interesting to see how things developed in the next year or so before the group he referred to as The Boring Ones tried to impose their definition of order on the mortal realm.

_This'll be fun, _he thought as he began to chuckle at what his imagination was providing him with. _A LOT of fun!_

_**Scotland, Slayer Organization Castle, Late Evening**_

_**Commander Alexander Shepard's POV**_

"Anyone get the name of the cruiser that ran me over?" he groaned as he pushed himself off the ground despite the aches that existed throughout his body.

His mind was… jumbled… as he looked about the room he was now in he tried to figure out how he'd gotten there but all he got was a thick haze of nothing that he couldn't pierce no matter how hard he tried. The last thing he could clearly recall was walking through the hanger of the Normandy SR-2, dealing with the aftermath of their strike on the Collector Base. They'd been lucky in that they hadn't lost anyone and managed to escape with the ship more or less intact but he knew that a major hurdle was ahead of him. Like it or not he had to answer for what happened in the Bahak system because the deaths of three hundred thousand sentient beings wasn't something you could just sweep under the galactic carpet.

Nor was destroying a mass relay.

Still, if he had to do it all over again, he'd still destroy the mass relay since it was either that or let the Reapers invade right then and there. Maybe he'd remember to bring some of Tali's programs so he could have a better chance of warning the people on Aratoht about what was about to happen but that was it. Nevertheless, he had to answer for it and he remembered that he'd just been about to give Joker the order to set course for the nearest major spaceport so he could drop off anyone who didn't want to go to Earth when… when everything went blank and he found himself here.

_Wherever here is,_ he thought before he heard numerous groans similar to his own occurring all around him.

Looking around, he was comforted to see most of his team had been brought along for whatever ride he was on and were apparently in similar shape. Kasumi, Tali, Liara, Jacob, Miranda, Grunt and Joker he could see easily but what surprised him was that Admiral Hackett was there as well. He had thought that any phenomena that could've abducted his crew would've been restricted to the Normandy itself. Last he'd heard, Admiral Hackett was with the Fifth Fleet trying to quietly increase Earth's defenses in preparation for the Reapers.

That was clearly not the case.

"No, but if you ever find out I'd appreciate it if you could pass its' name along," Miranda said with her usual sharp tongue. "I'd like to have a few 'words' with them."

Right then and there he almost felt sorry for whoever was responsible for their relocation because, once the former Cerberus biotic found them, there wouldn't be enough left to fill a teaspoon.

"Get in line," Jacob groaned as he got to his feet.

Once he managed to get on his own feet he looked around to take better stock of the situation so he could formulate a course of action for them. From what he could tell, aside from the specialists he'd already identified, the rest of the people in the room were either civilians or Normandy crew members and this only lent further confusion in the sense that there seemed to be no criteria for the abductions. None of them appeared to need medical attention from what he could see but they were all just as disoriented as he was. Turning to the others, he decided it was time to see if they had any more assets beyond what was currently on site.

"This is Commander Sheperd of the Normandy to any vessels within range. Please respond," he said, activating his sub-dermal communicator behind his right ear. "I repeat if there's anyone who can receive this signal, please respond."

"Normandy here, commander," came a familiar digitized voice through his communicator.

"EDI! What's your status?" he asked glad to know that they could very well have the Normandy at their disposal.

"I am functioning within normal parameters, Commander, however several ship systems suffered some damage during whatever phenomena we experienced," EDI replied, sounding a little annoyed at the lack of facts. "I have enacted what repairs I can however my sensors detect no life forms aboard the Normandy so I am limited in what I can do. Nevertheless I have managed to achieve stable geosynchronous orbit above your current position."

"Yeah. Looks like most of the crew is down here along with some civilians I don't recognize," he said, turning back to Joker and the others. "We're all okay aside from not knowing how we got here. Anything you can tell me?"

"We are currently in the Sol system and you are on Earth on the northern tip of the country known as Scotland in what appears to be a remodeled and restored castle." EDI declared after taking a moment to access the necessary facts.

"We're back on Earth? Did the relay in the galactic core throw us here somehow?" he asked, unsure as to how they'd managed to make it all the way home otherwise.

"I do not believe so. Once I discerned where we were I conducted a scan of the system and found no Alliance ships, colonies or technology within range." EDI replied with barely perceivable concern.

"What?! What happ-?!" he asked before being interrupted by Joker.

"Commander! Liara's not waking up!" Joker said, sounding distinctly worried as he knelt over the Asari doctor's still body.

"She's alive, Shepard, but I'm getting some odd brainwave patterns," Tali said as she scanned their unconscious friend with her omni-tool. "I'm no doctor but I seriously doubt this is a good thing."

"EDI? Can you pilot a shuttle down by remote control?" he asked the A.I through the communicator. "Something's wrong with Liara."

"Acknowledged, Shepard. I will send down a shuttle to your location immediately," EDI said in a slightly distracted tone. "However I will need to land five hundred yards from the castle itself. There is an unidentified energy field enveloping the castle that would disrupt my connection to the shuttle, potentially resulting in a crash landing."

"We'll be there!" he said before turning to the others. "Shuttle's coming down outside this place. Let's move!"

He moved and scooped up Liara in his arms and made his way to the nearest door that looked like it might be a way outside. Without missing a beat Tali and the others brought their favorite weapons to bear and took up positions around him, keeping an eye out for potential hostiles. While this might seem a little paranoid, it was the only practical thing to do considering they had no idea where they were or who they might encounter along the way. However, as he moved, he made sure to take notice of the things in the environment around just in case it might give him a clue as to how they'd all gotten here. From what he could tell, all of the tech, odds and ends he was seeing didn't match anything he'd seen the last time he was on Earth so he wasn't getting any answers just more questions.

Fate, however, took pity on him because as he passed a table he spotted something he'd seen at his grandfather's place when he was little. It was a newspaper, something you could get just about anywhere before the extranet became the dominant form of media distribution, so he took a moment to look at the date on it so he could at least get that much information.

May 20th, 2009

This almost made him stop in his tracks but he managed to keep himself moving despite, the shock of finding out that either this place had a thing for old newspapers or they'd somehow been transported over a century and a half into the past. It made no sense since, even with all the advances in technology that they got from mass effect technology as well as the Council races, time travel was still very much in the realm of science fiction. Shaking his head, he decided he'd wait until he got to more comfortable surroundings aboard the Normandy before he made any more attempts to figure out what the hell was going on.

Looking back over his shoulder, he could see that the rest of the Normandy crew were following them even though they'd have to do trips back and forth to get them all up to the SR-2. Still he had to admit that they'd need more than just him and the other specialists in order to run the Normandy so that they could find a way back home.

As for the civilians… he'd have to learn more about them before he decided whether or not to let them come on board the Normandy. The last thing he needed was to let an undercover Cerberus operative who's still loyal to the Illusive Man on board the Normandy.

_**Behind a Boulder a Thousand Yards From the Slayer Organization Castle, Whistler's POV**_

_**An Hour and a Half Later**_

_About time the last of them went up to the ship, _he thought as he watched the sci-fi shuttle accelerate into the sky with the last group of people. _Now I can sneak in and do my job. Just hope this piece of bling does its job._

Just to be on the safe side he waited another fifteen minutes before heading for the front gate of the castle so as to make sure no one spotted him out of the back window of the shuttle. Looking down at the piece of jewelry that looked like it could've been bought at 'Tiffany's', he patted it slightly in order to reassure himself that it would do its job. He moved at a pace that was as brisk as he could manage, given that he wasn't the most athletic of the PTBs servants. Normally he wouldn't be forced to do anything as troublesome as jogging, he'd just flicker into whatever place he needed to get inside, but getting into the castle wasn't going to be that easy. Despite her not even being fifty, Summers' redheaded friend was coming along by leaps and bounds in the mojo department. The wards and spells Rosenberg had put up around the castle were nothing to sneeze at even for some of the heavy hitters of paranormal side of the world. Oh, she wasn't unbeatable yet or even in the top fifteen most skilled or most powerful sorceresses on the planet, but if she were an athlete people would definitely be scouting her. As a result of her current power level and the protections that'd been put on the castle, trying to flicker in there would be quite lethal for him.

_Since I ain't a big fan of dying and my bosses aren't forgiving of failure, I'm getting a workout instead._

Indeed, he'd been called to the chambers of the Powers That Be mere moments after the dimensional chaos wave had passed over him and to call what they were in a 'bad mood' would have been the understatement of several lifetimes. With a single spell, all but the most minor of their plans had been reduced to so much ash since, not only had the senior members of the Slayer Organization been affected, but the entire galaxy as well.

THE ENTIRE GALAXY!

Never in all his centuries of service to the PTBs had he ever witnessed a single spell having such widespread consequences for this reality and he'd seen quite a bit. He'd thought that they might have some kind of plan for undoing the damage and putting things back to normal but, when he'd voiced this, they'd only glared at him harder with rage. Apparently because of Janus' nature and the fact that he had outside help, the most they might've been able to do was carry out a massive temporal fold that would reset things back far enough for them to fix things. However, since their jurisdiction didn't extend past this particular solar system, the rest of the Milky Way galaxy would remain changed and that would put Earth at a serious disadvantage. When he'd asked what they meant by that they gave him a look that almost made him piss his pants right there and quickly flickered to where he'd been a couple of minutes ago.

_Whatever's going on has their blood pressure hittin' the red zone. _He reached the edge of Rosenberg's wards, _Better finish this mission and give them something to be happy about real fast._

Reaching up to the bling his bosses had given him, he plucked one of the four smaller stones hanging from the large central one and threw it at the air in front of him. It flew no more than a few feet before it stopped mid-air and began to shine with an inner light before shattering into dust that formed a basic arch through which he could pass. Darting through before the arch vanished, he immediately noticed the central stone beginning to glow confirming what he'd been told about a species ID spell inside the first ward. Fortunately the central stone would make him appear to be a normal human with NO intentions whatsoever and that'd confuse the spell long enough for him to do what he came to do.

The front gate to the castle was wide open so he didn't have any trouble getting in there and could only smile at the bit of luck as he proceeded. Once he was inside the castle he began to follow the directions he'd been given for the secret chamber where the whole mess began, wanting nothing more than to complete his assignment.

Once the spell was broken is was pretty much guaranteed that one of two things would happen: either the people that went up in space would die when the effects of the spell vanished or they'd come back down to the castle once they were back in control of their bodies. In either event he wanted to be gone by the time anyone came to investigate what happened, especially if it was that Buffy chick since he still remembered her threat concerning his rib cage. If it turned out that they died in space when everything disappeared, the Slayers at the other branches would likely come to investigate after a certain period of time and he doubted that they'd approve of him being there when they arrived.

_Times like these I REALLY want to kick myself for signing that damn contract!_ he thought as he reached the hidden entrance to the chamber he needed to get into.

Pressing the right points on the wall, he watched as the stone surface slid away, revealing a staircase leading downwards. Step by step he went and every moment of his descent only intensified the feeling of magic in the air, confirming that he was getting closer to the source of the spell. The feeling from the air he was getting was seriously giving him a case of the heebie-jeebies but his resolve to complete his assignment forced him to go onwards. He eventually reached the bottom only to find the Slayer responsible for the mess lying down in an arcane circle that was pulsing with green light. However his only concern was the stone bust of the Roman god Janus in the center since his superiors told him that the second that thing was smashed it was mission accomplished.

_Looks like the girl got hit with some serious sensory overload._ He looked down at the dazed and groaning Slayer. _Probably riding the happy train with Janus thanks to all the chaos that's been stirred up. Hope you had your fill, girl, 'cause when you come to your senses you're in for a rude awakening._

Once he was in front of the stone bust he could see that it was practically vibrating with power and, for a moment, he considered finding something to smash it with rather than touching it directly. However, when he could not see anything that would be easy for him to pick up he sighed and, with some hesitation, picked the bust up off the floor. He raised it high above his head and, with as much strength as he felt was needed, threw it against the wall on the far side of the chamber. It struck just like he'd known it would but, as it shattered, it released one final pulse of power that sent him right onto his ass. However it wasn't just the shockwave of chaotic energy that knocked him off his feet but also the blitzkrieg of images that assaulted his mind in the space of two seconds. He couldn't make them all out but he did know that they touched something primal within him and caused fear bordering on terror to thrum throughout his body.

_W-what…what the h-hell…was that!? _he thought as he unconsciously put distance between himself and the remains of the bust.

He might not've been the bravest balance demon around but after all the things he'd seen and heard about in service to the Powers That Be, it still took a lot to scare him. To actually push him to the brink of pure terror… he didn't want to think one moment more on what held the potential to do something like that. Instead he got to his feet and ran out of the castle as quickly as he could and, the moment he was clear of Rosenberg's wards, he flickered back to his masters. He'd give them the report of a job well done and then go to his favorite bar so he could get so stinking drunk that it'd reduce his short term memory to shit. He didn't care if he woke up the next day with the mother of all hangovers.

All that mattered was ridding himself of his fear as soon as possible.

_**Aboard the Normandy SR-2**_

_**Minutes Before the Breaking of the Janus Spell**_

_**Tali'Zorah nar Rayya's POV**_

_I know I should have some idea of how to handle this but I don't,_ she thought looking down at the unconscious form of Liara. _I'm an engineer for keelah's sake, NOT a doctor!_

As soon as they'd gotten on board the Normandy they'd noticed some irregularities but Shepard hadn't cared about that, going to the elevator immediately. Admiral Hacket volunteered to stay behind and supervise bringing up the crew still on the planet and the civilians that had been mysteriously displaced with them. Once the rest of them had caught up to Shepard in the sick bay, they'd seen him going about the place with the same resolve and efficiency he displayed on the battlefield. They'd been able to see that he had already applied a generous amount of medi-gel and seemed to be searching for anything more he could use but she'd been able to see from the beginning that he was at the end of the rope. It'd been then that she and Joker had convinced him to let her look after their friend since she'd have more experience medically than him. The truth though was they were concerned that in his rush to find a means of helping Liara, he might accidentally do more harm than good. All of them barely reached the level of competent helper when it came to medicine but, without Dr. Chakwas present to help them, she was the best option of them all to help the Asari.

That was over an hour ago and she had administered some medicine to boost her friend's immune system to fight off whatever was wrong with her. She had also tried a few mild stimulants on the off chance that it might help the blue skinned woman regain consciousness but nothing happened. The woman's brainwave patterns were still unlike anything she'd seen and even EDI couldn't find a match for them in the sick bay's medical library. In the end she was forced to accept that all they could do was wait and hope for the best, no matter how frustrating it might be to do nothing.

Hearing the door to the room open, she turned her head and saw Shepard stride in, still clad in his N7 armor but it was clear from the look in his eyes what he wanted to know.

"I've done everything I can, Shepard, but I'm not a doctor." She half turned to the medical bed upon which their friend lay. "I don't think she's getting any worse but she's not getting any better either."

Without saying a word the commander of the Normandy went over to the bedside of the person who'd been through so much with all of them.

"She's a fighter. She'll make it," Shepard said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than her.

"If the Shadow Broker couldn't stop her then this… whatever it is won't either."

Silence followed for a minute or two before her longtime friend put aside his own worry over Liara's health and focused more on his responsibilities as well as his duty.

"I've had Joker put us in orbit on the dark side of Earth's moon until we sort all this out. I need you to go down to engineering and work with Kenneth and Gabby to repair the damage to the ship. When we've finished giving everything the once over and decide on a course of action, I want the Normandy ready to go. Also let me know if you spot anything during the repairs that might give us a hint about how we got here."

"Consider it done. I'll have the Normandy back in perfect shape inside of a day," she said before turning towards the entrance to the sick bay.

She didn't get much further than that before a wave of disorientation and displacement washed over her, causing her to drop to her knees since she no longer had enough focus to devote to standing. Her last coherent thought before everything became a haze was a Quarian curse aimed at whoever was responsible for getting her into this mess.

_**Willow's POV**_

"Uhhhhhh… I haven't felt this bad since the first few times I tried spirit walking," she mumbled as she waited for her body to stop acting like it was still in a blender. "Don't want to do… whatever this is… again either."

"I don't blame you," came Xander's voice from behind her, sounding like he wasn't doing much better than her.

Carefully turning herself around, she began to realize that their situation might be a bit more serious than a relatively simple case of spiritual destabilization. The first thing she noticed was the fact that she wasn't in the castle banquet hall like she remembered, but rather one of the most advanced infirmaries she'd ever been in. It also looked vaguely familiar but that line of thought ended when she saw Xander because, last time she checked, he had one eye and an eye patch, not two eyes and no eyepatch.

"Xander, your eyes!" she exclaimed as she crawled over to him on her hands and knees since she didn't feel quite steady enough yet to justify trying to walk.

"What about my… my eyes!" Xander exclaimed, taking a second to realize what she meant.

With all the grace of a drunken hobo her friend tried to get to his feet and, when he eventually succeeded, he quickly moved to the first reflective surface he saw, which was the observation window that dominated the left wall of the sick bay. For a minute her friend did nothing but examine the newly returned eye from every angle to make sure he wasn't seeing things and that it was exactly what it appeared to be. It was almost funny how thorough he was being about it but after a few minutes she decided that they needed to focus more on where they were and what was going on rather than Xander's newly recovered depth perception. Deciding to chance getting to her feet, she planted one foot and then, once she was satisfied with how steady it was, she extended it and immediately put her other foot down as a brief moment of dizziness hit her. Once it passed she walked over to Xander she reached up to put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. That was when she noticed something disturbingly different about it:

It had two fingers and a thumb.

It was supposed to have four fingers and a thumb.

Almost out of some sort of insane belief that the hand in front of her wasn't her own she mentally commanded her fingers to curl into a fist, only to watch with growing denial as the hand in front of her responded to her mental commands.

"Wha-what's happened…!?" she asked unconsciously, barely even registering the tone attached to someone freaking out seeping from every word.

Almost as though half her mind was still in control, enough to run through the scientific method, she began to systematically test every limb and digit mentally to see if anything failed to respond quickly enough. She wanted to find any discrepancy, any flaw that could give her a leg to stand on so she could believe that her commands were merely being routed to some robot body. However, the more she tried, the more everything seemed to be responding as though it was her real body and that only increased the freakiness of the situation. She was about to lose it completely when a pair of strong hands grasped her shoulders and she looked up to see Xander looking back at her with unquestionable resolve in his eyes.

"I don't know, Willow. I think we're all pretty much in the same boat here." His calm, steady voice was impressive, all things considered. "But you need to keep it together. We'll figure out what happened and then you and Giles can go research crazy and figure out a way to fix all this. We've done it before and we'll do it now. Okay?"

Looking into his eyes, she was reminded of all the times that she'd been in a serious pinch and he'd looked at her just as he was right then. She took such comfort in his resolve and it was no different now, despite the fact that it was just a **bit** different than the things they'd encountered in the past.

"EDI? Give me shipwide communications," Xander said, looking up at where he probably figured the… the A.I was.

_Keelah! I-I know things… _she thought as memories and information she knew didn't belong in her head slid into place the moment there was a need for either.

Definitely not like other times.


End file.
